Ljubljana - Neither the previous nor the current government have been serious about tackling corruption among suppliers of medical devices, the weekly Reporter argues in the latest commentary.

It took Janez Janša's government two years, after all the supplies of ventilators, rapid tests and other equipment were over, before they amended the public procurement act by introducing reference prices.

"For two years during the pandemic, they knowingly permitted ... massive theft and the siphoning of public funds into the private pockets of the chosen ones, and it took them until a month before the election to wake up," the paper says.

The new government entered office with great expectations and Health Minister Danijel Bešič Loredan pledged to fight corruption tooth-and-nail, declaring that elites which have skimmed off commissions for twenty years were getting nervous.

"But government measures against corruption in healthcare will not be taken until the second phase of intervention in healthcare, in a year and a half, when systemic changes are to be introduced based on a precise analysis. Until then procurement will obviously continue the old way?!"

What is more, a group of doctors who call themselves zdravstvo.si say the Robert Golob government took a step back by revoking amendments to the public procurement act that the Janša government passed in January.

The commentator quotes an unnamed insider as saying that if one wants to fight corruption in healthcare, neither Janša nor Social Democrats or Borut Miklavčič, a former minister, should be in government. "In this government, only Janša is absent," it says.

Bešič Loredan is riding high in the polls and people have high expectations. "He was very keen to become minister and now he has the opportunity to do what his predecessors have failed to do. He should govern, while Borut Miklavčič should enjoy his yacht," concludes the commentary Where Are Our Ships Sailing?